This invention relates to a mounting arrangement for an outboard drive and more particularly to an improved mounting arrangement for mounting an outboard drive for movement between a tilted down position through trim adjusted positions to a tilted up out of the water position.
It is well known to mount marine outboard drives for movement relative to the transom of an associated watercraft between a plurality of trim adjusted positions so that the propeller will assume the appropriate driving position relative to the body of water in which it is operating and at the appropriate angle relative to the transom of the watercraft. It is further known to mount such outboard drive units for movement so that the propeller can be tilted up completely out of the water. The more conventional type of tilting arrangement mounts the outboard drive for pivotal movement about a single, horizontally disposed axis. Although such arrangements have the advantages of simplicity, when used in conjunction with outboard motors they tend to have the power head of the outboard motor encroach into the watercraft when the motor is tilted up. In addition, such single pivot axis supports do not always permit the propeller to be disposed at the optimum driving angle.
In order to overcome such disadvantages, tilting devices have been proposed which can tilt a propulsion unit while also lifting it at the same time. In such a conventional device, a fixed bracket, a tilt bracket supporting a propulsion unit and two links constitute a link mechanism which is operated by a hydraulic motor to perform lift and tilt operations simultaneously.
However, since the two links constituting the arrangement carry only compression and tension loads, the cross-sectional areas of the links have had to be quite large across their entire lengths in order to provide the necessary strength for adequate performance. Such a requirement has resulted in an undesirable heavy weight of the linkage arrangements.
It is, therefore, a principal object of this invention to provide an improved tilt and trim arrangement for an outboard marine propulsion unit.
It is further an object of this invention to provide a tilt and trim arrangement capable of simultaneously lifting and tilting an outboard drive unit.
It is still a further object of this invention to provide a lift and tilt arrangement of reduced weight compared to previous arrangements.